"Common Sense" is all too often little more than a substitute for ignorance and prejudice. It rejects the carefully thought-out argument for instant thoughtless reactions. It is usually wrong.
UnCommon Sense tries to look at issues from a more complex and considered point of view. "Common Sense" is simplistic, UnCommon Sense is deals with the the world as far more complex than many would have us believe.

Thursday, 9 February 2017

Media transphobia: Harm and shouting 'fire!' in a crowded theatre.

This post represents my opinion of Bindel, J Conroy, Katz, the Mail and the BBC:

How many lives is one
story worth?

The news that a young trans girl in a school in Manchester has been shot by a transphobe following months of bullying that was not
addressed by her school may come as a shock to some but certainly does not come
as a shock to many trans people. I know, personally, there is worse transphobia
going on in other schools as we speak, but I am not at liberty to speak about
it.

The Daily Mail and the BBC have attacked trans children and
this is the end result; schools not taking transphobia seriously and pupils
(and doubtless their parents) unquestioningly believing what they see on TV and
in the papers. The recent BBC ‘documentary’, “Transgender
Kids: Who Knows Best?” about trans children, was so badly biased and
unbalanced and contained so many obvious misconceptions that one can hardly be
surprised that this poor girl has come close to serious injury as a result of violent
transphobia. I am sure her psychological injuries will be much worse. This
is obviously considered by some of those working in the media to be a price worth
paying for a 'good story'. The Daily Mail’s persistent campaign against
trans children is likewise culpable, as, in my opinion, is its sell-out,
unradical, unfeminist contributor Julie Bindel. In my opinion she has 'blood on
her hands', as does the BBC’s producer John Conroy, Newsnight editor Ian Katz
and the Mail editor Paul Dacre.

What is even more interesting is how Katz, on
the childishly simplistic “trans people are against free-speech bandwagon” (take-down of it here) complained
that trans people are “too quick to shout down voices [we] don't like”. It
would appear that Katz has blocked at least one person who tried to debate with
him about this on Twitter. I guess no-platforming is only bad when trans people do it...

Shouting “fire” in a
crowded theatre.

Everyone acknowledges that freedom of speech does not extend
to shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre. The problem is that, in my opinion, the
actions of the BBC and the Daily Mail amount to the same thing. But while the
result of the shout in the theatre can be directly and immediately linked to
the outcome; spectators trampled to death, in the case of bullied trans
children the link is there but far less immediate or visible. Children like the poor victim of this bullying and this shooting are under attack
because the media has constructed an unfounded narrative that trans children are
not “genuine” and are being “coerced” into being trans by zealous adults. This
is the shout in the theatre but the trampling of the lives and prospects of
trans children goes unseen by Paul Dacre, Julie Bindel, John Conroy, Ian
Katz and others; they can simply hit “block” on their Twitter feed. Blocking on
Twitter doesn’t mean it goes away, it just means you don’t want to know about
it. That does not mean it is not happening or that it is not connected to any of their
actions, it just means they can pretend it is nothing to do with them. These
people should read some of Hannah
Arendt, in my opinion their actions represent the Banality of Evil, in action, in the UK,
today.

Child abuse by proxy

In their apparent campaign against trans kids, both Conroy’s
“documentary” and Bindel’s rants in the Mail, the impression is created that trans kids are given “fistfuls of drugs
and hormones”. In fact the only thing all trans kids are prescribed to treat
their gender dysphoria is affirmation, affirmation that they are the genders they say
they are. Just like the affirmation cis kids get in their genders.

Cisgender children have their genders affirmed all day,
every day from day one. All that trans kids want is the same thing. This is not
a big ask, it is merely basic equity, justice, humanity (yes trans kids are human!).In my opinion the media campaign against this
effectively represents child abuse by proxy, it is saying to those who have a
need to hate and bully, “Here’s your next target.” Anti-Trans Fanatics (often known
as TERFs) have long employed violence by proxy as a tactic against trans people.
Schools and equality campaigners have made it increasingly unacceptable for
children to bully children for other reasons, so ATFs/TERFs and the
media have taken it upon themselves to legitimize the bullying of a new group, in this instance trans children. Let’s be clear, this is the actual
outcome of their actions and is not an outcome that anyone can, in any way, claim is unforeseen.
It is merely that some wish it to be unseen.

Actual Harm not
“Offence”.

Since the hypocritical“free
speech” campaign by Bea Campbell to allow transphobes to speak
in universities, trans people have consistently argued that this hate-speech
will cause harm to trans people. These people, from Peter Tatchell to
Breitbart, have long misrepresented the reasons that trans people have opposed
this kind of hate-speech. They have dishonestly said we should not be so sensitive and worry about "offence". This is a deliberate misrepresentation; our opposition to this hate-speech is because it causes harm not 'offence'. In the case of the harm to the girl in
Manchester, the harm was physical and there are plenty of other cases of
physical harm this hate-speech has caused to trans children. More common is the
psychological harm caused to trans children by the atmosphere of hate put
about by the media, as well as the loss of access to educational opportunities,
something vividly narrated by Nicole Maines in her brave
and wonderful TED talk about the harm caused to her in school.

But let us be crystal clear about this; transphobic
hate-speech about trans kids in the media has a cost, and that cost is harm. Some may decide that this is a price worth paying for
their salary cheques at the end of the month, some may choose to ignore it and
pretend the consequences are not there, some will hope it continues, and goes
on to harm more trans children. But let us just not pretend that this is any
different from shouting fire in a crowded theatre.